Human Sentinel
Humans joined the galactic community after discovering a Prothean data cache on Mars in 2148. Their devotion to understanding and adapting to modern warfare left the staid Council races stunned. Humanity's persistence and unflappable spirit has taken them further than anyone in the galaxy could have imagined. Master of nothing but proficient in everything, human sentinels are often relied upon to draw fire on the battlefield. Sentinels relish their opponents' look of surprise when they realize they were focusing on the wrong enemy all along. Powers Melee and movement Player Notes General Notes *The Acolyte is the Human Sentinel's best friend. When used in conjunction with Throw it sets up a devastating one-two punch on every unarmored enemy in the game. Add incendiary ammo IV to get near-instant Fire Explosions on enemies in quick sequence. Due to Throw's fast cooldown, this combo makes the Human Sentinel one of the deadliest classes in the game at quickly dispatching entire squadrons of standard shielded enemies, even including Phantoms. Make sure to begin charging the next acolyte shot as soon as the current one is released, its charging time lines up very closely with Throw's cooldown so they can be used in a constant rhythm. *The Human Sentinel can use Warp and Throw in sequence to trigger Biotic Explosions on any enemy, at any time. The combo is best used on armored bosses, who can then be used as "explosion generators" to also hit any enemies gathered near them with splash damage. *Power damage increases do not affect the strength of biotic explosions; the strength of the combo is determined only by the total of the ranks of the primer and detonation powers used and any rank evolutions taken which specifically increase the damage of biotic combos. As a result, Tech Armor, active or not, cannot increase biotic combo damage, and neither can Alliance Training passive bonuses. It does increase damage of powers and so it will help deal more damage. Tech Armor can be used to stagger nearby enemies, and reactivated to engage in long-range combat. *Because Human Sentinels are power intensive, a light loadout is recommended. Try to stay at 150-200% cooldown. *On higher difficulties, all enemies with dodging capabilities dodge with increased frequency, making set-up and detonation difficult. Either shoot first to cause the enemy to dodge or get close enough to make the thrown power unavoidable. The Acolyte will stagger anything it hits, another reason it's such a potent pairing with Throw. Another option is to team up with an ally who has a "hit-scan" power such as Reave--once a target has been primed, a biotic explosion is only 1-2 seconds away since the recharge speed of Throw tends to be faster than the frequency of an enemy's dodge. *Because of power bonuses from both Tech Armor and Alliance Training, using Throw on the Human Sentinel is exceptionally powerful. The radius evolution on it can be taken to allow it to hit multiple enemies while still remaining powerful from Tech Armor's boost. *Although the Human Sentinel doesn't have the baseline physical durability of the other Sentinel classes, it makes up for this by still being able to dodge and roll away from attacks. With up to a 50% damage reduction to handle weaker attacks, and the speed to get out of the way of heavy attacks and execution moves, a well-played Human Sentinel is more than capable of surviving almost any firefight. Equipping a cyclonic modulator will have a greater benefit on it due to the compounding effect of Tech Armor's damage reduction, making it the most durable of the Throw classes. *If Incendiary Ammo is being used, the Human Sentinel can use a fast-firing weapon like an SMG to stack its damage over time multiplicatively in combination with Warp. This is highly useful against bosses and produces so much additional damage over time that they can often die in one or two fewer biotic combos. Cerberus *Biotic explosions are deadly against Atlases, especially once their shielding has been removed, as well as the best way of dealing with Dragoons. If equipped with a Cyclonic Modulator, the Human Sentinel will be much more resilient against Dragoons' weapons fire, making them far less of a threat while waiting for Warp's cooldown. *While Phantoms can be detonated, their gauntlet can block powers, preventing explosions or damage. Counterintuitively, one can simply spam powers without specifically aiming for a combo to try to pin them down for weapons fire. *Alternatively, one can goad the Phantom into performing acrobatic flips by using rapid weapon fire. Because a power launched at a Phantom in the middle of a flip will track her normally, this is an effective strategy if the Phantom is a good distance away. *An Incendiary Acolyte > Throw combo is the most effective way of dealing with Phantoms. The Acolyte shot can remove their barriers entirely, and with a well timed throw just as the projectile hits they will be unable to activate their shield bubble, either dying to the resulting fire explosion or being knocked to the ground to be finished off with another Throw. *Guardians can also be detonated, but only when hitting the Guardians' bodies. Throw can be used to stagger them, exposing their bodies to gunfire. Another tactic is to send Throw at their backs--usually the power and physics damage will kill them outright. If not, they'll have dropped their shields for an easy kill. *When using an Incendiary Acolyte, Cerberus Turrets must be hit with an Acolyte/Warp combo rather than Throw to provide the slight extra damage required to fully eliminate them. Collectors *The Human Sentinel will work well here, with Warp being able to affect every single enemy in one form or another. Enemies will either be softened up due to the armor weakening, weakened by DoT, or their barriers will be heavily damaged. It can be used with throw to detonate explosions which will cause no end of trouble for the Collectors. *Once again, Incendiary Acolyte combined with Throw is highly useful here. In addition to its ability to rapidly dispatch both normal and possessed Troopers and Captains, it can also be used against Seeker Swarms. *Warp/Incendiary DoT stacking is highly useful due to the abundance of resilient armored and barriered enemies, but of particular note against Praetorians. When hit with a power while floating, Praetorians counter with a bubble that makes them immune to priming powers and combos. The Human Sentinel should avoid using Warp on floating Praetorians until they land; instead, shoot it in its lower headshot area with your Incendiary SMG while baiting it in close. When it lands, pop into cover and begin to hit it with Warp/Throw combos while continuing to fire your SMG. Watch as its lifebar drains away at ridiculous speed. If a teammate activates its power-blocking barrier, the Human Sentinel player should temporarily ignore the Praetorian and let the teammates engage it, instead focusing on other enemies nearby or guarding the flanks. *Throw is very useful against Abominations, since they explode upon death if you do not decapitate them. This power will give you and your team some breathing space to kill one or many Abominations and prevent their explosions from doing extreme damage, especially if said foe is possessed. Geth *Human Sentinels have no powers that strip shields which can be a problem, but this can be remedied by carrying an anti-shield weapon such as the Acolyte. The Acolyte/Throw fire explosion combo makes the class one of the most efficient Geth killers in the game. *Warp is only necessary against Geth Primes and Geth Pyros, everything else including Geth Bombers will go down to an Acolyte/Throw combo. *Keep an eye out for cloaked Geth Hunters. Hitting them with an Acolyte shot will strip their shields and make them targetable for a Throw. If one surprises you, remember you can release a charged Acolyte shot even while staggered. Counter their ambush with a quick stagger of your own and finish them with a Throw. *Many of the Geth's most damaging attacks are projectiles and can be easily dodged with the Human Sentinel's combat roll. Make liberal use of it while engaging Primes, Rocket Troopers, and Hunters. Reapers *Since most enemies have either just health or armor, biotic combos are devastating against Reapers, although a little time-consuming. Make sure you have a good means of defending yourself at close-quarters or medium-range while your powers recharge. *As with Collectors, Warp/Incendiary interaction can do a lot of work against armored Reapers and significantly reduce time to kill. Against Brutes, a single sequence of shoot with SMG > Warp > Fire Explosion > Throw > Biotic Explosion will kill them, whereas they would normally require multiple Warp/Throw cooldown cycles to kill otherwise. Ravagers seem to take inconsistent damage from Biotic Explosions, sometimes far less than expected, but are extremely susceptible to Warp Incendiary when weapons fire is used to pop their sacs. Sometimes they will die before Throw even has a chance to be cast. *Banshees have complex interactions with the Human Sentinel, and the advanced strategy for most efficiently dispatching them is similar to the Praetorian strategy in the Collectors section. While in teleporting phase they should be hit with Warp/Throw explosions and layered with Incendiary Ammo shots to stack damage over time. Ideally the player wants to hit them with a second Warp but not detonate it, as this tends to be when they cross the damage threshold that shifts them to their stationary power-blocking phase. As long as a power isn't cast against it in this phase it will not raise its shield hand and the Warp primer will remain active, and massive Incendiary damage can still sap them down. Evade their slow projectiles with combat rolls and move to close range. During both the startup and recovery of the Banshee's AoE blast, she cannot block detonator powers. Answer her animation with an opportunistic Throw to kill her before she completes it with your Biotic Explosion!